Qué se puede hacer, salvo ver películas

The story behind

What else can be done, besides watching movies sounds like an album that was pieced together through trial and error. The band La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros had already tested the waters with their debut in 1976, but here it’s clear the sound slipped beyond their control: the arrangements stretch out, the keyboards tangle in layers that don’t always follow traditional time signatures, and Charly García’s voice flows as if he’s improvising over a sketch. It’s not a song that sounds like a conventional track, but rather an experiment that refuses to stay still. The piano and synthesizer take turns carrying the melody, while Oscar Moro’s drums mark a rhythm that seems to change its mind every two measures. Recorded at Ion Studios in 1977, the track lasts six minutes and sixteen seconds—enough time for each instrument to shine without rushing. The album Películas was released that same year under the Talent Microfón label and marked the end of an era for the band. They weren’t trying to sound like anyone else: they wanted the arrangements to breathe, the silences to carry weight, and the transitions between sections to feel as natural as they were unexpected. Designer Juan Oreste Gatti handled the cover, a detail that, even back then, spoke volumes about the care they put into every project. Years later, in 2007, Rolling Stone Argentina included it in their list of the 100 best albums of national rock, but at the time, it wasn’t an album meant for mass success. It was simply what happened when they let the music take its time.